Benfica managed to shock Champions League Group E as they qualified for the knockout rounds ahead of mainstays Barcelona but that was largely down to Blaugrana’s deficiencies rather than anything spectacular about the Portuguese outfit.

The Eagles were in decent shape towards the end of the group campaign but they have dropped off the boil since then and a clash with one of the most in-form sides in Europe will not be high on their wishlist.

Ajax winning streak continues
Ajax became the latest in a short line of teams to win all six of their Champions League group games and it’s no surprise to see them as firm favourites for this tie, especially given the form they are in right now.

Their 1-0 win at Willem II at the weekend made it ten competitive wins on the bounce and they have lost just three games all season which, incredibly, all came at the Johan Cruijff Arena.

de Godenzonen flourish on the road
Away from home, de Godenzonen haven’t lost since December 2020 and they have won 12 of their 14 competitive trips this season, so I’m definitely backing them to take a first-leg lead against a Benfica outfit that have only won five of their last 11 in all competitions.

However, I’m not expecting Ajax to have it all their own way. Benfica may be in shaky form but they have still managed to score in each of their last ten matches, while Ajax conceded in all three Champions League away games in the group stages. This makes Ajax to win and both teams to score the standout bet on Wednesday.

Two of Benfica’s last three home games have ended in 2-1 defeats and, with Ajax scoring at least two goals in all six group games, I’m backing a 2-1 correct score prediction here.



译文(自动翻译仅供参考):

本菲卡在欧冠E组击败巴萨进入淘汰赛，但这在很大程度上是由于布朗格拉纳的不足，而不是葡萄牙球队的出色表现。

老鹰队在小组赛接近尾声的时候状态还不错，但自那以后他们的情绪就有所下降，与欧洲状态最好的球队之一发生冲突不会是他们的愿望。

阿贾克斯继续连胜
阿贾克斯成为最近一支在欧冠小组赛六场比赛中全部获胜的球队，他们成为这场比赛的夺冠热门也就不足为奇了，尤其是考虑到他们现在的状态。

他们在周末以1-0战胜威廉二世，这使他们在一波又一波的竞争中取得了十场胜利，而整个赛季他们只输了三场比赛，令人难以置信的是，这三场比赛都是在约翰·克鲁伊夫球馆(Johan Cruijff Arena)输掉的。

高登宗在路上蓬勃发展
在客场，德高登佐宁自2020年12月以来就没有输过一场比赛，他们本赛季14场比赛中赢了12场，所以我绝对支持他们在首回合领先本菲卡，而本菲卡在过去的11场比赛中只赢过5场。

然而，我并不期望Ajax能够完全按照自己的方式进行。本菲卡可能状态不佳，但他们仍然在过去的十场比赛中都取得了进球，而阿贾克斯在欧冠小组赛的三场客场比赛中都被淘汰。这使得阿贾克斯赢得了比赛，两支球队都在周三打进了精彩的一球。

本菲卡最近三场主场比赛中有两场都以2-1负于对手，而阿贾克斯在六场小组赛中都进了至少两个球，我在这里支持一个2-1的正确得分预测。